Transportation of equipment or items, especially sports equipment, such as one or more bicycles, often involves securing the equipment or items to a vehicle. The equipment or items may be secured directly to the vehicle or, more often, may be secured to a load carrier affixed to the vehicle.
While transporting the equipment or items, the vehicle often experiences vibration which may be transmitted to the equipment or items, directly or through the load carrier. Moreover, the vehicle may often encounter uneven driving or other conditions which may cause the equipment or item to be subjected to abrupt movement causing stress or shock which also may be transmitted to any equipment or item directly or through the load carrier.
In either case, the stress or vibration transmitted to the equipment or item can, at least in part, be affected by the securement device used to secure the equipment or item to the vehicle or the load carrier. These transmitted forces may, over the course of use of the securement device, cause damage or impairment to the equipment or item being secured. The damage to the equipment or item secured may be structural or may include damage to the surface of the secured equipment or item at the point of securement or contact. Both structural and surface damage to the secured item is undesirable and may, depending on what is secured, be costly.
Thus, a securement device that lessens at least some of the shock or vibration to which the equipment is subjected to while secured to the vehicle or load carrier is desirable. Likewise, a securement device that provides at least some protection to the surface of the equipment while secured to the vehicle or load carrier is also desirable.